local choice system works, according to a
district survey last year. Other school dis-
tricts have used active recruitment to
increase diversity. But 4J’s dizzying array of
choices may remain daunting to poor and
busy families regardless of how much read-
ing material the district provides.
porters have long criti-
cized the many spe-
cial privileges of
alternative schools.
Alternative
schools
have
enrollment caps
that allow them to
avoid the disrup-
tion of kids mov-
ing in and out of
classes during the
year. Researchers have
closely linked high mobility
rates to low school perform-
ance. Unlike alternative
schools, some neighborhood
schools that lack caps also suf-
fer enrollment swells that pack
classrooms, making it much
harder to teach and learn.
The district has also given
alternative schools the advan-
tage of not having to accom-
— Nancy
modate special education and
special needs children, almost all of whom
are placed in neighborhood schools. Another
advantage is not having to worry about
school closure. Declining enrollment has
recently closed several poorer district neigh-
Nancy Willard is an attorney
and single mom with two chil-
dren at Adams neighbor-
hood school. One of her
adopted children is
from Guatemala and
the other from
India.
Controlled
choice.
To
increase income
and racial diversity
in schools and
reduce achievement
gaps, a growing number
of cities have turned to sys-
tems of controlled choice.
More than 400,000 students
nationwide are involved in
such economic integration
efforts, according to a 2002
study by the Century
Foundation. “There exists
today a solid policy consensus
that school segregation perpet-
uates failure,” the foundation
Willard
reported.
To integrate, districts commonly rezone
school attendance boundaries and/or mix choice
with a system of assignments or preferences
designed to better blend poor and wealthy kids.
Some districts collect information on parent
‘It’s not legal
… Either the
district or
a court
will force
a change.’
options to change choice. But the closures,
mergers and alternative school moves and
redirected funding that critics advocate have
made some alternative school defenders bris-
tle.
Time spent on the divisive choice issue
would better be spent lobbying Salem for
more school funding, reform opponents
argue. Geography is more to blame for eco-
nomic and racial school segregation in
Eugene than choice, they say. If choice were
eliminated, high quality alternative schools
would be hurt, and the city would simply
resegregate by neighborhood or private
schools with poor kids unable to switch
schools.
Eastside parent Joe Thornton, a UO biol-
ogy professor, wrote to Russell with a
lengthy statistical analysis that he says backs
up claims that alternative schools don’t hurt
diversity. Thornton says Willard is “cherry-
picking” data to make her case.
But Willard says Thornton’s analysis
improperly uses districtwide averages to
dilute evidence of the severe impact on the
few neighborhood schools in south Eugene
and River Road that directly have their white
and wealthier students creamed off by near-
by alternative schools.
Choice critics also dispute that alternative
Critics of school choice say it’s unfair to kids who, through no fault of their own,
have parents whose poverty, lack of transportation, lack of education or
lack of information leave them unlikely to take advantage of school choice.
Transportation . The district doesn’t
provide bus service to alternative schools
and many poor families may lack the time
and means to drive their children to an alter-
native school. The state could cover up to 90
percent of the added cost of improved trans-
portation through its funding equalization
formula. But it’s unclear how much real
impact simply providing buses to poor kids
would have. Only 9 percent of parents say
they would choose a different school if trans-
portation were provided.
Magnet schools. Unlike in Eugene,
school choice in most cities was designed as
a way to integrate schools voluntarily by
placing desirable programs in low-income
neighborhoods as magnets. Many of the
Eugene alternative programs in greatest
demand are in more affluent neighborhoods
and the ones in poorer areas don’t give pref-
erential admissions to neighborhood kids.
For example, Fox Hollow French immersion
elementary is in the wealthy south hills. Fox
Hollow has almost no poor, black, Latino
and Native American students and ranks as
one of the least diverse and wealthiest
schools in the state.
Setting up new magnet neighborhood
schools in poorer areas could attract diversi-
ty. But the effect would be limited if compe-
tition continued from existing alternative
schools. If existing alternative schools were
closed or moved and merged with poorer
neighborhood schools, some alternative par-
ents may fight the change as harming their
high-scoring schools.
Fairness.
Neighborhood school sup-
borhood schools with the threat of more to
come, but so far alternative schools have
been exempted from closure.
Spending. Recognizing that different
kids require different amounts of money to
educate, the state of Oregon adjusts the per
pupil funding it gives to each district based
on poverty, special education and other fac-
tors. Although the district gets 25 percent
more money from the state for each poor kid,
it doesn’t directly pass that money on to its
poorest schools. The district funds schools
equally, largely on a per-pupil basis with
some limited money available for literacy
and other programs for struggling neighbor-
hood schools.
The district could re-target spending to
schools with more poverty where research
shows teaching is often far more demanding.
Schools in Cincinnati and Seattle have pur-
sued such a policy and Superintendent
Russell has advocated increased funding for
poorer schools in Eugene to reduce the
achievement gap. “Providing equal resources
to address unequal situations will result in
unequal outcomes,” he told the school board
two years ago.
Such targeted spending could have an
impact if it were large enough. But with
funding limited, large diversions to poorer
neighborhood schools would mean less
money for schools with wealthier students,
and could draw opposition.
Another option would be to require
wealthier schools to share a percentage of
their larger fund-raising budgets with poorer
schools to equalize funding.
education levels, for example. Successful con-
trolled choice systems are coupled with
increased spending to lure middle class parents
to magnet schools in poorer neighborhoods, the
Century Foundation reported.
Schools from Raleigh, N.C., to San
Francisco have engaged in such economic
integration efforts in the past four years. In
La Crosse, Wis., which has the oldest inte-
gration plan, a busing system sparked a recall
backlash but ultimately succeeded in increas-
ing test scores and gaining public support.
The move to economic integration is
backed by research from the Piton
Foundation on Denver elementary schools
showing that low income kids do much bet-
ter in mixed-income schools and their pres-
ence doesn’t hurt wealthier kids in schools
with under 50 percent poverty. A recent
investigation by The Washington Post and a
study in Madison-Dane County, Wis., found
similar results.
Such research indicates that Eugene
could use integration to reduce its widening
achievement gap without hurting wealthier
kids. Over the past three years, the gap
between the percentage of 4J Hispanic and
white eighth graders who met state math test
standards almost doubled. The black-white
gap on the same test increased by a third.
Last year, 74 percent of white eighth graders
met the math standard, but only 22 percent of
Hispanics and 35 percent of blacks scored
high enough.
REFORM OPPOSITION
Reform advocates say the district should
use a combination of many of the above
schools’ testing success is due to any innova-
tive teaching approach. The curriculum at
most alternative schools is no longer that dif-
ferent, they argue. Widely accepted research
shows that schools with the common alterna-
tive profile of higher income kids with dedi-
cated, educated parents and classes with few
children moving in and out almost always
score higher on standardized tests.
Willard acknowledges that geographic
and private school segregation is a problem.
But she says the city and school district can
control geographic segregation with con-
trolled choice and magnet schools and with
policies to disperse low-income housing.
Eugene has relatively few private
schools, and Willard says massive white
flight isn’t likely. The fear of a few leaving
shouldn’t mean that Eugene should give up
its values and “capitulate to the demands of
rich parents who want a segregated, private-
school-like environment in the public school
system,” she says.
LAWSUIT THREATENED
Without major reform, choice critics say
they may sue for discrimination. “It’s not
legal,” Willard says of 4J’s policies. “Either
the district or a court will force a change.”
In 1954 the Supreme Court held that sep-
arate schools are inherently unequal and vio-
late equal protection rights in the U.S.
Constitution. Title VI of the 1964 U.S. Civil
Rights Code prohibited racial discrimination
in schools like 4J that receive federal funds.
The Oregon Constitution and state laws have
similar provisions. Eugene City Code bans
discrimination based on both race and pover-
JANUARY 27, 2005 13